Clan-Members » on the country.If they go through, Zim

ATLANTA -- There was a buzz in the Hawks locker room after their long-awaited first look at their new starting five together.Clearly, Atlantas new big man has generated big expectations for the season.The Hawks final home preseason game on Tuesday night provided the first chance for forward Paul Milsap, who has made three straight All-Star teams, to play beside center Dwight Howard, an eight-time All-Star and three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.Milsap was brought along slowly following a non-surgical procedure before training camp to reduce swelling in his right knee before making his first start in Atlantas 96-89 preseason win over New Orleans.Seeing Howard and Milsap finally playing together boosted small forward Kent Bazemores enthusiasm for the season.The ball moves really well for us, Bazemore said. Paul and Dwight have really good chemistry and theyre going to be passing the ball a lot to each other ... so they looked really good tonight.Howard signed a three-year, $70.5 million deal in July, giving Atlanta the legitimate center it lacked through much of the Al Horford era.Horford, now with Boston, was a big reason the Hawks reeled off nine straight playoff seasons, but even he said he wasnt a true NBA center. No one has ever said that about Howard, whose defensive rebounds and blocked shots have coach Mike Budenholzer thinking about fast-break opportunities.Howard, entering his 13th NBA season, is still only 30. He sees his move to his hometown as a fresh start and an opportunity to repair his reputation following eight seasons with Orlando, one with the Lakers and the last three with Houston.I really want to show the Hawks fans how dedicated I am to winning, Howard said. I think a lot of people have probably got it twisted with the things that have happened in my past but Im very dedicated to this sport, very dedicated to myself and winning and being whatever I can be for this team.---Here are some other things to know about the Hawks:NEW POINT: The other new piece in Atlantas lineup is point guard Dennis Schroder, who moves up after playing behind Jeff Teague for three years. Bazemore said Schroder, like Howard, boosts the Hawks defense. Defensively hes a stud and thats where it starts, Bazemore said. Weve got one of the best on-the-ball defenders in the league at point guard. Its just a pleasure playing with him and the grit he brings every night. Its huge for us.DELANEY THE BACKUP: Schroders backup will be rookie Malcolm Delaney. Veteran Jarrett Jack, who was still recovering from surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right knee last season with the Nets, was released on Thursday. Delaney, from Virginia Tech, has played in Europe for five years. Budenholzer said Delaney is not your typical rookie. ... I just feel very good about the way he has progressed and fit in with the group.KORVERS ROLE: Kyle Korver, 35, likely will open the season as the starting shooting guard, but for how long? The 3-point specialist saw his scoring average fall from 12.1 in 2014-15 to 9.2 last season. The Hawks could bring Korver off the bench if they opt for a bigger lineup with Bazemore at shooting guard and rookie Taurean Prince (6-8, 220) or Thabo Sefolosha (6-7, 220) at small forward.FOR OPENERS: The Hawks open at home against Washington on Thursday. After trying a later 8 p.m. tipoff for most home games last season, most night games will start at 7:30 p.m. this season.THE TRY FOR 10: The nine straight playoff seasons is the longest in franchise history and the longest active streak in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks set a franchise record with 60 wins in 2014-15, when they made their first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals. They fell back to 48 wins last season. New Balance Cheap Nz .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. New Balance Nz Sale . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. http://www.newbalancesalenz.com/ . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. New Balance Sale Nz .7 million, one-year contract, a raise of $2.2 million. Wieters had asked for $8.75 million and the Orioles had offered $6. New Balance Clearance Nz . According the Toronto Star, a knee injury will keep Sundin out of the lineup, which includes former teammates Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi and Curtis Joseph. The Zimbabwe womens national team rocketed from near-disqualification to a first-ever Olympic soccer spot in the sort of radical turnabout that tests whether ultra-rapid, earth-to-airspace human ascent could give one the bends. The sorting hat then chose for the world No. 93 a deadly draw of two-time world champions Germany (No. 2), Australia (No. 5) and Canada (No. 10) in the group stage -- all quarterfinalists or better at the 2015 Womens World Cup.However, Zimbabwes Mighty Warriors are playing with house money in a situation where they usually get no credit and, like just recently, get completely stiffed.The girls have earned their stripes by qualifying, says head coach Shadreck Mlauzi, who struck a grounded but optimistic tone as the Olympic debutante squad prepared for the first match against Germany on August 3. While we may go with the underdog tag on our necks, we are working hard to go and compete to the best of our abilities. If we compete well, anything is possible on the field of play.Before the mood turned all sun-kissed and samba-soundtracked, however, the outlook appeared bleak.On July 19, 2015, after a clutch of well-fought matches, the Mighty Warriors had to forfeit the away leg of their Olympic qualifying semifinal in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The Zimbabwean soccer federation sheepishly turned its pockets inside out to reveal no airline tickets. (In a related vein, former federation officials currently face charges stemming from a March 2015 qualifying match in Ghana for allegedly forging player signatures, falsely raising funds and pocketing airfare dollars.)Officials awarded Ivory Coast three goals and three points; Zimbabwe faced sanctions and possible disqualification. Then it got weird. On the second leg, the Ivory Coast no-showed in Harare -- its own federation crying poverty -- then one-upped Zimbabwe altogether by withdrawing from the tournament, despite a mooted third time and venue.For an Olympic slot then, Zimbabwe faced the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon, who competed in the London 2012 Olympics and progressed to the second round of the 2015 Womens World Cup. Cameroon won 2-1 in Yaoundé, though Zimbabwe striker Rudo Neshamba scored a vital away goal. She then scored in Harare to put Zimbabwe up 1-0, a scoreline the team then protected for a 2-2 aggregate -- through to Rio on the away goals rule.The Mighty Warriors made history as the countrys first team of either gender to earn a global soccer tournament berth. Nigeria, Cameroon and other African womens soccer giants stay home this summer, but Zimbabwe travels west.What makes this incredibly unlikely, and momentous, is that Zimbabwe has no professional womens league, and its national teams depend on an unreliable trickle down of FIFA funds and outside sponsorship -- the inconsistency of both directly impacting players and coaches, who not infrequently go unpaid. Unlike the affluent nations Zimbabwe faces in the group stage, the Zimbabwean government does not help fund youth, womens or mens programs.There are so many factors negating against Zimbabweans, in that the local game is in shambles, says Lovemore Dube, senior sports editor at the Zimbabwe daily, The Chronicle. It does not augur well for the game to have qualified when there is no national league of note. The other countries play professional football, Zimbabwe boasts part-timers.However, the Zimbabwean team didnt just qualify for the Olympics this year. The team also qualified for the 2016 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), for which the players each reportedly received $50, while the men, who also qualified for AFCON, are said to have received $1,000 apiece. The womens players work in the army, the police, the security sector and other jobs -- the regular world. An absence of a professional league, coupled with a situation in which womens national team players earn a pittance for winning historic international qualifying matches means soccer alone cant pay the bills.In terms of the womens team, we need to make sure that they be remunerated better, says Petros Chatiza, program coordinator at Young Achievement Sports for Development in Zimbabwe. All the games the world over...the Olympics, in terms of sport, this is the highest level. We havent been able to get a team to participate at such a high level.Cash problems affect all levels of Zimbabwean soccer. Just this month, in July 2016, the boys U-17 team abandoned AFCON due to budgetary constraints. This, after already having served three years on the sidelines for missing an away fixture in the Congo in 2012, the same year the mens U-20 team failed to travel to a qualifier in Angola and received an identical sentence. FIFA dropped the senior mens team from 2018 World Cup qualifying for failure to cough up back pay to a Brazilian former coach. In that instance, a sponsor did step forward in time to donate the funds to get the team reinstated for 2022 consideration, so financial forces can mobilize under exigent circumstances -- and preferential treatment for the mens team clearly exists.For context, when Mugabe celebrated his 92nd birthday in February 2016, replete with lavish parades, concerts and 92kg of cake -- 2.2 lbs for every year -- the total cost reportedly came to between $800,000 and $1 million. Frosting for the president trumped other funding needs.In a moment of brazen hypocrisy, in 2013 Mugabe spoke after a domestic mens soccer tournament ?-- the Bob 89 Super Cup (name-checking his first name and number-checking his 89th birthday) -- about funding for the national side. Government is doing little for soccer, he said, adding, It is one sport that requires great support. Without any discernible hint of irony, he stated, Let us examine where we lack support for it. I do not think we are doing much.Despite the years that have elapsed sincce those comments, his government continues a steady policy of zero support.ddddddddddddThe mismanagement of money, of course, goes much deeper than sports. Chris Aston, a farmer who expatriated to Zambia after his land was seized in Zimbabwe, says, The government is struggling to survive having firstly destroyed the productive capacity of the country, then systematically looted whatever they could lay their hands on.There is no money to pay the civil servants, there is no money to pay the police force. Finding money for women to play soccer?Mugabe was once hailed the teams Chief Patron in a rare 2011 state banquet for the Mighty Warriors when not-yet-disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter visited the country to pledge $1 million dollars to the countrys football schemes, and the pair attended a Zimbabwe-hosted tournament of southern African nations that the home nation won. Despite the fact the team receives no government funding, Mugabe promptly showed for the photo op. (See sidebar for such awkward moments, like when President Mugabe had an urge to keep the World Cup trophy in 2009.)Patrick Daka, former member of the Zimbabwe mens U-23 and senior national sides in the late 90s and 2000s, puts the problem down to the need for good governance in the soccer federation. Planning ahead, or finding the sponsorship ahead rather than the day before the flight or the day before you buy the ticket -- that to me is the biggest issue facing Zimbabwe.During Dakas playing career, fixture absenteeism happened, but mainly when buses broke down and cost-benefit analyses convinced officials to abort mission. Daka now coaches professionally in Charlotte, Virginia, and says the positive arc of Zimbabwean womens soccer has astounded him. Womens soccer was absolutely nonexistent when I played in Zimbabwe.On return to his old Black Aces professional club in Zimbabwe recently, Daka visited the Aces Youth Soccer Academy, which contributes players to the womens national team. I watched the women train and was amazed by the quality they had: the balance, the stamina, their astuteness in terms of soccer awareness, their IQ. I was blown away. I cant wait to watch them play in the Olympics.The Olympics will be the first time many have seen these players perform. We as a country do not attract scouts from outside, Daka says. I remember the last World Cup, watching Cameroon, the womens team, and even Nigeria, thinking, Man, they can play. There were a couple players on those teams that I thought, Surely, they should get contracts. Im hoping Zimbabwe does that! Regardless of how the tournament pans out, those three games will be very important in the next chapter of the Zimbabwean womens team.Landing a nightmare group of heavyweights at the Olympics has its drawbacks, but high-profile visibility also presents a massive upside. Matches against three of the worlds top 10 will attract guaranteed eyeballs, among them scouts and owners of professional womens clubs. Its a chance for our top players to market themselves, Daka says.It may not be all gloom for the girls, adds Dube, who roughly echoed Dakas words. Professional playing opportunities, just like scholarships, lie in wait for the outstanding individual players.Rudo Neshamba, the striker and journalism student who scored both Zimbabwes goals against Cameroon, as well as a crucial goal against neighbor and eternal rival Zambia earlier in qualifying, leads the attack. Neshamba, I think shes going to light it up this tournament, Daka says. Shes ready to move onto something bigger. Shed be a success wherever she goes.Neshamba will also have striker and captain Felistas Muzongondi, who also scored against Zambia, as well as defender Sheila Makoto, who can move up the park and play an attacking midfield role if need be. Plus, veteran Nobuhle Majika marshals the defense with experience and presence.We have come a long way and sacrificed a lot for a sport without any sponsorship and gate takings, says Trust Kwembeya, founder of Inline Academy, which inaugurated its first girls team in 2002 and where Neshamba and Majika learned their trade.After the many years of keeping the sport going from shoestring budgets, Kwembeya says, there should not be any turning back from this. The profile of the sport has been enhanced and we hope the government, corporate sponsors and individual Zimbabweans of means can help grow the brand by ploughing money to incentivize the girls not in Brazil only, but also in the provincial, regional and national competitions.TV turnout domestically promises to be high for the Mighty Warriors games. There is no doubt Zimbabweans will be watching on television and following online the girls participation, Dube says.Chatiza said the mens national team usually draws 20 to 30 people to a bar to watch a match. The Mighty Warriors will draw many of the same numbers, but I think more, because this team has made history, so people will want to see their exploits.What Im hoping out of Rio is that people start recognizing Zimbabwe as a soccer nation, Daka says. Success at the tournament for the Zimbabwean team may have that impact and put a spotlight on the country.If they go through, Zimbabwe might just go wild.Since the country doesnt get this opportunity every day, theres no harm in dreaming about more than simply putting in a passable performance. Perhaps the team may win or draw a match -- progress to the knockouts, even. Zimbabwe got through to the Olympics through skill, determination and luck. The team will likely need to navigate the gauntlet of the group stage with another perfect cocktail of the same. But this time, scouts and millions of others will be watching. ' ' '